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Sermon Archive

Join us for this annual service that celebrates the blessings of clean and safe water! The Water Communion is our annual ingathering as we start the beginning of the new church year. Please bring a small amount of water that represents water that was important to you this summer: water from somewhere you traveled or from your own backyard. Service led by Wy’east members.

Harvard professor Charles Darby Knock once said that “Religion is what people in community do, say, and think with respect to those things over which they have no control.” What are some of those things, the ones that challenge us most deeply? The story of Adam and Eve gives us a timely “Heads up!” on this important question! Service led by Rev. Craig Moro.

A poem may be as brief as haiku, as silly as nursery rhymes, as majestic as Homer’s Odyssey, as comforting as the 23d Psalm. There is magic and power that flows from the simple act of stringing words together in particular ways, affecting our minds and emotions. For the healing of our hearts and the saving of our world, we might well invoke the power of poetry to comfort our souls and inspire our best efforts. Service led by Reverend Sue Ayer, Community Minister Emerita.

Once a month, for about the last 10 years, Ellen Godula has graced our worship with her beautiful music. This week she will share with us a little about her story and life-long relationship with music, as well as playing some of her own compositions for us. Join us to unravel at least a little of the mystery surrounding this gifted musician.

The UUA General Assembly -- “The Power of We” -- happened in June in Spokane, WA and Wy'east sent four members -- Alana H., Jocelyn F., Lana A., and Mathias Q. -- to the proceedings. Join us this Sunday as they share their experience and more about the outcomes from this annual gathering of UU's from all over.

Our August Special Collection will happen this day. The non-pledge contents of the offering basket will go to the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation to support recovery from Pine Ridge Reservation flooding earlier this year.

What's the antidote to rising nationalism, polarization and hate? In her inspiring, poetic TED talk, Valarie Kaur asks us to reclaim love as a revolutionary act. As she journeys from the birthing room to tragic sites of bloodshed, Kaur shows us how the choice to love can be a force for justice. Whether you have been moved to tears by this talk many times and shared it with everyone you know, or will be experiencing it for the first time, come to engage with the Wy'east UU community around how we can apply these lessons in our lives and our faith.

About

Valarie Kaur is a civil rights activist, award-winning filmmaker, lawyer, faith leader and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. Her social justice campaigns have helped win policy change on hate crimes, racial profiling, immigration detention, solitary confinement, marriage equality and internet freedom. She founded Groundswell Movement, the Yale Visual Law Project and Faithful Internet, initiatives that equip new generations with tools for social change. During her work inside supermax prisons, on the military base at Guantanamo and at sites of mass shootings, she identified a surprising key element for social change: the ethic of love. She now leads the Revolutionary Love Project to champion love as a public ethic and wellspring for social change.

Kaur earned degrees at Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School and Yale Law School. She lives with her film partner and husband Sharat Raju and son Kavi in California, where her family settled as farmers a century ago. She is a member of the California Bar.

Pema Chodron, Beloved Buddhist teacher, author, nun and mother, states in her book When Things Fall Apart that the way to enlightenment is down not up. Yet, Brene Brown, Social Worker, researcher and author states: of all the things trauma takes away from us, the worst is our willingness, or even our ability, to be vulnerable. Jesse Remer, doula, empath and trauma informed care trainer will share some of the ingredients to living in compassion when trauma comes knocking at our door.

In the Green New Deal, the climate movement has a vision of the world we want to build, not just the world we’re against. This vision for planet and people asks us to create the basis for the well-being of living things born today. Service led by Melanie Plaut the 350PDX.org team lead for the Fossil Fuel Resistance Team and a member of the Green New Deal Team.

“Transcendence” may evoke the image of other-worldliness and deep religiosity – moving closer in relationship to the divine – but it is accessible to any of us, at virtually any time. This morning we explore how the human desire to escape the day-to-day, sometimes mundane, nature of our lives can be reconciled with the freedom to ascend beyond ourselves. Service led by retired UU Minister Rev, Millie Rochester

On the first Sunday of July, Wy’east holds an annual Interdependence Day Potluck/Picnic. Rather than meeting at the Hollywood Senior Center, join us for games, singing, food and fellowship at the Picnic Area at Creston Park (SE 43rd & Rhone -- just south of Powell Blvd). Festivities will begin at our usual 10:30 gathering time with games and songs with a potluck picnic lunch to follow at 11:30.

Bring a potluck dish to share plus your own plates and utensils. Coffee and Lemonade will be provided. Guests are welcome.

Creston Park is located just south of Powell and the parking lot can be accessed from SE 42rd Avenue (at Rhone Street). There is ample parking and the picnic area is in close proximity to the parking area.